Wednesday's matchup was actually a relatively uncomfortable and prolonged affair, marked by open hostility between the frontrunners Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Maybe it was the awkward roundtable seating, or maybe the candidates are just over it at this point, but the tone of the evening was surprisingly petulant and bitter. By the end of the night, it was clear that everyone onstage was ready to call it a wrap on the debate.

The Great Earmark Symposium

The fireworks really got started over earmarks, a largely symbolic issue that has nevertheless gained a lot of traction with conservatives.

Having never served in Congress, Romney has the clear advantage on this issue, and somehow managed to drag the rest of the candidates into a protracted discussion that quickly devolved into a circular firing squad.

The exchange was surprisingly caustic, exposing personal hostilities between the candidates. Santorum, Romney's first target, first tried to cast Romney as a hypocrite, then took a jab at Paul — "one of the most prolific earmarkers today — and then got bogged down in the minutiae of the process.

"I didn't follow all of that," Romney replied sarcastically. Then he turned to Newt, prompting boos from the crowd.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be critical," Romney responded in earnest.

But he had already woken up Professor Newt, who launched into a lecture:

"Let me just say flatly, all of you need to think about this because this is one of those easy demagogic fights that gets you in a lot of trouble."

But Paul got the last word:

"There's reason for the confusion because it's all Congress's fault," he said. "If you say you're against earmarking and fuss and fume over it, the answer is, vote against the bill. That's what I do."

Goodbye Angry Newt, hello Cheerful Newt.

After spending most of the month out of the campaign spotlight, Gingrich returned to the debate stage reinvigorated and ready to resume his post as the resident ideas man.

Gone was the angry, bitter Newt from Florida and Nevada. Asked to describe himself in one word last word, Gingrich chose: "Cheerful."

Of course, he proceeded to explain that America is in "total war," cautioning the nation about the imminent threat of nuclear terror in major U.S. cities. He also explained that the Los Angeles Unified School District is waging war against children.

Boos for Birth Control

Although the debate audience stopped short of cheering for death, the Arizona crowd was pretty rowdy last night. And they did not like it when CNN moderator John King asked about birth control.

Gingrich and Romney practically leaped out of their seats at the audacity of such a question, and proceeded to cast the contraception controversy as an issue of religious liberty, not social values. Gingrich also managed to throw in a good, right-wing jab at Obama and the media, pointing out that "not once did anybody in the elite media ask why Barack Obama voted in favor of legalizing infanticide."*

But Santorum snapped up the culture war bait, likely relieved that the question wasn't about his thoughts on Satan.

Rick Santorum melts down, using bad sports metaphors.

Santorum finally started to crack under the Romney-Paul onslaught in the the final quarter of the debate.

Forced to defend his votes on Title X funding, earmarks, and the debt ceiling — as well as his unfortunate 2004 endorsement of GOP turncoat Arlen Specter — Santorum broke the cardinal rule of politics and just started apologizing.

His explanation for supporting the No Child Left Behind basically handed his opponents' their next attack ads:

"I have to admit, I voted for that, it was against the principles I believed in, but you know, when you're part of the team, sometimes you take one for the team, for the leader, and I made a mistake. You know, politics is a team sports, folks, and sometimes you've got to rally together and do something, and in this case I thought testing and finding out how bad the problem was wasn't a bad idea," Santorum said.

Of course, Santorum is not wrong — but it was definitely not the message he wanted to send during a Republican primary.

Newt and Paul get punchy.

Courtesy of CNN

In the wake of Santorum's No Child Left Behind Meltdown, Gingrich and Paul both appeared to realize just how irrelevant the debate had become. By the time the education spending question got to them, the former speaker could hardly contain himself.

Asked what he thought of Gingrich's education spending policies, Paul replied: "Newt's going in the right direction, but not far enough!"

At which point, Gingrich totally lost it. Apparently, Cheerful Newt gets the giggles.

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